Extensible markup language (XML) is increasingly becoming the preferred format for transferring data. XML is a tag-based hierarchical language that is extremely rich in terms of the data that it can be used to represent. For example, XML can be used to represent data spanning the spectrum from semi-structured data (such as one would find in a word processing document) to generally structured data (such as that which is contained in a table). XML is well-suited for many types of communication including business-to-business and client-to-server communication. For more information on XML, XSLT, and XSD (schemas), the reader is referred to the following documents which are the work of, and available from the W3C (World Wide Web consortium): XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes; XML Schema Part 1: Structures, and XSL Transformations (XSLT) Version 1.0; and XML 1.0 second edition specification.
One of the reasons that data files written in XML are often preferred for transferring data is that XML data files contain data, rather than a combination of data and the software application needed to edit the data. Using XML is advantageous, as opposed to a binary data format, because it is all in a text format which makes it possible to view and edit a raw XML file using standard applications like an Internet browser and a text editor.
In some applications, in order to edit an XML data file, a user typically must interactively install a solution software application used to access, view, and edit the data file. When the user is online, the user's computer can run a host application capable of accessing the Internet, such as Microsoft® Internet Explorer®, which can silently discover and deploy a solution, which can be written in XSLT, where the solution enables the user to author and access an XML data file. Alternatively, some XML files can be directly viewed in an Internet browser so that a specific application may not be needed for this specific purpose.
An application and/or information to be put into XML data files can be collected electronically using, for example, Internet (e.g., web) or online electronic forms. Tools for using the electronic forms must be custom built applications or must use proprietary electronic forms tools. Using these custom applications and proprietary electronic forms tools causes at least four significant problems. The first problem is that the process of gathering information electronically can be inefficient. Inefficiencies occur for several reasons. One reason is that data entry personal can provide inconsistent data. Data inconsistencies occur where information is missing or provided in different formats. As such, those responsible for gathering, analyzing or summarizing the data must go back and reconcile the information provided. Another data inconsistency occurs because people provide information to one person who then inputs the data into some sort of electronic form or tool. Because the data has to be re-typed by someone who isn't the subject matter expert, this process leads to inaccurate data and to an inefficient data gathering process.
A second problem with using custom applications and proprietary electronic forms tools is that the resultant electronic forms or documents aren't very easy to use and can be extremely inflexible. Many conventional electronic forms do not provide a rich, traditional document editing experience. Without tools or features such as rich text formatting and spell checking, these forms can be hard to use. And as a result, people don't use them as frequently as they should—leading to loss of invaluable organizational information. Additionally, conventional electronic forms are static in nature, where users have to fit their information into a set number of fields and don't have the ability to explain the context behind the information. What this means is that the information provided is often incomplete. As such, the person who consumes the information has to go back to the users to find out the real story behind the data.
A third problem with using custom applications and proprietary electronic forms tools is that they require considerable expense in order to build a solution that enables a user to author and access data using an electronic form or document corresponding to the solution. Such conventional electronic forms or documents can be difficult to modify because they were built for a specific purpose and required development work. Validation of data entered in conventional electronic forms for documents requires a developer to write code or script. Additionally, data entry personnel must be trained on how to use the conventional electronic forms for documents. Moreover, once the data is collected for an organization using the conventional electronic forms, the data is difficult to re-use or re-purpose elsewhere in the organization because the collected data is locked into proprietary documents and data formats. To reuse this data, the organization must invest in significant development work to extract the data from the appropriate sources and translate the data from one format to another.
Given the foregoing, it would be an advantage in the art to provide a solution that can be discovered for a data file by which electronic forms can be used to enter data into and view data in the data file, where the solution addresses the foregoing problems.